The Cabbagetown shoot was one I gave up on two years ago when I discovered a really boneheaded error, and I almost threw all the images away. I was traveling with a group of colleagues to the Urban Guild summit in Savannah in January 2018, and we were tracking the path the CityBuilding Express would take later that year on the way to the Congress for the New Urbanism. My Urban Guild co-founder Nathan Norris, wears many hats, including running the CityBuilding Express. The trip started on a day of rare Southern snow in Montgomery, Alabama. We reached Pinewood Forest in the fading light, and I set my exposure compensation low for the evening shots. By morning, the adjustment was forgotten and I shot most of the day at the same setting, so all the images came out looking worthlessly dark.
But that’s what RAW is for. I stumbled across the shoot this weekend while looking for something else and decided to process a couple. I watched in amazement as image after image processed beautifully. So here they are if you’re interested. Another note on the images: ever since August 2009, I’ve processed my images to have a soft, romantic look because I love that look, and a lot of other people do as well. But there are many others who don’t. So for the first time in 11 years, fueled by feedback and new capabilities of the Photoshop 2020 RAW processor, I’m adopting a different look with deeper color intensity and clarity. So far, I’ve gotten rave reviews from those who have commented, but would love to hear what you think.
Oh, and then there’s Cabbagetown. It’s a delightfully funky mill village just east of downtown Atlanta, right across the tracks from the Krog Street Market, which is just south of what is currently the eastern end of the Atlanta Beltline. There are both formal art installations and informal organic art all over the neighborhood, and the shoot includes several iconic images of mill houses and mill like the image above.
Enjoy!
~Steve
